Donald Trump

Donald Trump will officially become the first former president to face criminal charges Tuesday when he's arraigned in a New York courtroom -- an appearance ...

Trump will be taken through back hallways and elevators to the courthouse, which is in the same building as the district attorney’s office. His arrest will be processed in the district attorney’s office, where he will be fingerprinted. He stayed overnight in Trump Tower, and will head 4 miles south to the courthouse in downtown Manhattan on Tuesday afternoon. Trump will be accompanied throughout the day by the Secret Service. And a [Fulton County special grand jury ](https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/20/politics/georgia-racketeering-conspiracy-trump-willis/index.html)has completed its investigation into efforts to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia. The investigation stemmed from a hush money payment made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels during the 2016 presidential campaign.

Trump, the first former US president to be criminally prosecuted, pleads not guilty in New York arraignment hearing.

“Not only is the indictment frivolous, this political persecution marks a dark day for our country,” Cruz wrote on Twitter. Cohen said he paid her on Trump’s orders. Wearing a dark blue suit and red tie, Trump sat with his hands folded at the defence table on Tuesday as he entered his plea flanked by his lawyers. Can’t believe this is happening in America,” he posted on social media before his arrival at the Manhattan court. Seems so SURREAL – WOW, they are going to ARREST ME. [denounced the case](/news/2023/4/3/donald-trump-to-fly-to-new-york-for-court-appearance) as a “witch hunt”.

The ex-president has been charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree. Read the full text.

Donald Trump has been charged with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records, making him the first former US president to face a criminal trial.

Ms Greene, 48, has repeatedly promoted the false claim that Mr Trump won the 2020 presidential election. Hundreds of Mr Trump's supporters congregated at a park across from the courthouse on Tuesday morning, galvanised by the charges filed against him. They are not named in the legal documents, but Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said Mr Trump had arranged for $130,000 (£105,000) to be paid to porn star Stormy Daniels to buy her silence. The second payment, for $150,000 (£120,000), was reportedly made to Karen McDougal, a former Playboy magazine Playmate of the Year. A stony-faced Mr Trump said nothing as he left the courtroom after his arraignment. "Can't believe this is happening in America."

Trump's arraignment marks the day when he began to be held criminally accountable. And that must be a good thing for the rule of law.

It’s “easy to mistake the mob for the people”, the philosopher Hannah Arendt once wrote, warning that “the mob always will shout for the ‘strong man,’ the ‘great leader,’ for the mob hates society from which it is excluded”. [said](https://mobile.twitter.com/therecount/status/1643270948714426370): “Trump is joining some of the most incredible people in history being arrested today. Will this prosecution turn the tide in Trump’s favor and bring him the support he needs to regain not just the Republican nomination but the American presidency? [suggested](https://www.newsweek.com/trump-waco-rally-crowd-size-smaller-1790873) a crowd of up to 60,000. Rather, what’s evident is that Trump is unable to find a significant number of people who are willing to put their bodies on the line in his name, as he repeatedly has boasted. Jesus was arrested and murdered.” Greene, who is reported to be angling for the vice-president position on a Trump ticket, stated that she “will always support” Trump. Keeping Trump’s penchant for embellishment in mind, we would be wise to wait for proof from official campaign filings before accepting the accuracy of that number. And since “draining the swamp” is understood as rooting out political corruption, then, according to the criminal charges in the indictment, Trump is the alleged swamp monster whose habitat is being drained. [indictment](https://www.manhattanda.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Donald-J.-Trump-Indictment.pdf), we now see the outline of how Trump’s alleged hush money payments to two different women have been viewed by prosecutors and how they rise to the level of felony charges. “Participants in the scheme took steps that mischaracterized, for tax purposes, the true nature of the reimbursements,” Bragg By surrendering himself to authorities in New York City, Trump is finally draining the swamp. Of course, Trump isn’t the one opening the drain.

Now the indictment against the former US president has been unsealed, here is what you need to know.

As a reward, the indictment notes, Mr Pecker received an invitation to Mr Trump's inauguration. These payments, he says, support the prosecution case that Mr Trump knew his payments to Cohen were part of an illegal attempt to influence the 2016 presidential election. "The defendant orchestrated a scheme with others to influence the 2016 presidential election by identifying and purchasing negative information about him to suppress its publication and benefit the defendant's electoral prospects," the indictment's Statement of Facts asserts. In 2017, after becoming president, Mr Trump met with Cohen in the White House. TRUMP repeatedly and fraudulently falsified New York business records to conceal criminal conduct that hid damaging information from the voting public during the 2016 presidential election. Mr Trump - who pleaded not guilty to all the charges - insisted after leaving the courthouse that there was no case to answer.

The criminal charges stem from Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's investigation into hush money payments, made during the 2016 presidential campaign, to ...

“The payment records, kept and maintained by the Trump Organization, were false New York business records. Bragg alleged in his press conference Tuesday that the business records were falsified in 2017 with the intent of concealing criminal conduct connected to the 2016 campaign. Prosecutors say checks were cut monthly – including some coming directly from Trump’s bank account – to Cohen. Bragg is not charging Trump with a violation of election law or a conspiracy related to that alleged campaign-related conduct. Many of these specific facts have been public for years. “Each check was processed by the Trump Organization, and each check was disguised as a payment for legal services rendered in a given month of 2017 pursuant to a retainer agreement,” prosecutors wrote in the statement of facts accompanying the indictment.

Former President Donald Trump was charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records.

In the meantime, for the moment, the former president has exercised a right afforded to defendants but one that he seldom favors: the right to remain silent. In lieu of novel information, the focus for the day remained—as usual—Trump himself. Even Bragg’s description of the case in a statement was plain and matter of fact: “Manhattan is home to the country’s most significant business market. This still left the problem of how to disguise the scheme for record-keeping purposes. According to prosecutors, Cohen and Trump Organization Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg—who last year pleaded guilty to tax fraud—agreed on a $420,000 payment: “They reached that figure by adding the $130,000 payment to a $50,000 payment for another expense for which [Cohen] also claimed reimbursement, for a total of $180,000. You don’t expect this to happen to someone who was the president of the United States,” said attorney Todd Blanche. [Weisselberg] then doubled that amount to $360,000 so that [Cohen] could characterize the payment as income on his tax returns, instead of a reimbursement, and [Cohen] would be left with $180,000 after paying approximately 50% in income taxes. The statement of facts alleges that Trump told Cohen to delay paying Daniels as long as possible—ideally until after the election “because at that point it would not matter if the story became public” and they could avoid paying altogether. Michael Cohen, then Trump’s fixer, made the payment in the closing weeks of the 2016 presidential election, and was later reimbursed by Trump once he was in the White House. Trump seemed to speak for many Americans, both those who support him and those who loathe him, in [a social-media posting](https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/110141697788154293) during that trip: “Heading to Lower Manhattan, the Courthouse. After surrendering to authorities in Manhattan early this afternoon, Trump pleaded not guilty to 34 felonies during a closed-door hearing.

Trump, first US president to face criminal prosecution, will hear the charges against him at a hearing in New York City.

Former President Donald Trump was charged in an indictment unsealed Tuesday with 34 felony counts of falsification of business records in the first degree.

The prosecution said it hoped to have trial in January 2024; the defense asked for the spring of 2024. It bought the information from the former doorman without fully investigating his claims — and later concluded that it was not true — but the owner directed that the deal take place because of his agreement with Trump and his lawyer. Cohen said he even discussed the checks with Trump inside the Oval Office at the White House. The case against Trump stems from a 2018 guilty plea by Michael Cohen, Trump's former personal attorney, who admitted to making illegal campaign contributions in the form of buying women's silence about their alleged relationships with Trump. "Today's unsealing of the indictment shows that the rule of law died in this country," Tacopina said outside the courthouse. Trump was seen in photos seated at the defendant's table in the courtroom, in between his lawyers Joe Tacopina and Susan Necheles.

Here's all you need to know about the unprecedented case against former US president, who faces 34 charges in New York.

“I’m thinking it’s going to be like a three to four-week trial,” Filipkowski said. When both the prosecution and defence rest, the jury will deliberate and deliver a verdict. A judge will ultimately make a sentencing decision and Trump’s team could then launch an appeal. “We’re all sort of sitting here wondering, ‘Is this going to happen before the election next year?'” “That’s kind of the first big controversial thing because, obviously, [Trump’s] running for president and he wants to make this an issue,” Filipkowski said. They will likely punctuate long stretches of sifting through reams of financial and banking documents. or maybe a witness goes on TV and starts saying things that undermine their own credibility.” “We don’t know what would happen if he violates [a gag order],” Filipkowski said. “This man [Trump] is very unpopular in Manhattan.” Otherwise, the process of jury selection would begin before a trial and prosecutors and the defence will need to agree on 12 jurors they believe to be unbiased – a tall order in such a high-profile case. With the next hearing currently set for December 4 in the Trump case, prosecutors and the defence will also have the ability to submit a series of motions – applications for the court to make a decision on specific issues – prior to a trial. All to know about Donald Trump’s case](/news/2023/3/31/donald-trump-indictment?traffic_source=KeepReading) [New Yorkers on Donald Trump’s arraignment in the city](/news/2023/4/4/vox-pops-new-yorkers-on-donald-trump-arraignment-in-the-city?traffic_source=KeepReading)

Mr Trump appeared in a New York courtroom on Tuesday, where he was charged with 34 felony counts related to falsifying business records in connection to hush ...

She also once represented Genovese crime family underboss Venero "Benny Eggs" Mangano, [according to Reuters](https://www.reuters.com/world/us/bragg-tacopina-whos-who-trump-hush-money-case-2023-04-03/). [last year in a trial for tax fraud](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-63461588). Susan Necheles (second from left) is no stranger to the Trump Organisation.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has announced a 34-count felony indictment of former President Donald Trump. Read the criminal charges here.

"Manhattan is home to the country's most significant business market," District Attorney Alvin Bragg said in a statement. Read the indictment here and its statement of facts below that: The indictment is historic.

Mr Trump's lawyers have vowed to try everything possible to get the case thrown out before trial.

Motions are requests for the court to make a decision on a matter relating to a case before a trial begins. After his various legal challenges play out, the People of New York v. "And, of course, I very much anticipate a motion to dismiss coming because there's no law that fits this." But motions to transfer venue are rarely granted. There's no doubt that if the case gets to trial, it will be watched worldwide. In addition to a motion to dismiss, the Trump team has floated the possibility of a motion to transfer venue - moving the trial from Manhattan to nearby Staten Island.

The events underlying the criminal case against Donald Trump - hush money payments to suppress stories about extramarital affairs - took place nearly seven ...

Trump could also challenge whether the statute of limitations – five years in this instance – should have run out. The party will formally select a nominee in mid-2024 to face the Democratic nominee – likely incumbent President Joe Biden. Aside from the New York case, Trump faces federal criminal investigations over allegations he tried to overturn his 2020 election defeat and mishandling of classified documents. That would likely be denied as there is no basis for recusal, said Marc Scholl, a former Manhattan assistant district attorney. Falsifying business records is typically a misdemeanor punishable by no more than one year in prison under New York state law. But any potential trial could be more than a year away.

Ex-US president's arraignment in New York was a relatively muted affair, as Trump faced 34 felony charges.

[Republicans and Democrats react to Trump’s New York arraignment](/news/2023/4/4/republicans-and-democrats-react-to-trumps-new-york-arraignment?traffic_source=KeepReading) [Donald Trump pleads not guilty. We are a nation in decline. Today American politics crosses a line that it’s never going to come back from,” said But Republicans expressed outrage at what they considered a weaponisation of the legal system for political purposes. The court appearance took less than an hour. “Protest, take our nation back!”

At his arraignment, all the former President could do was sit and listen.

Inside the courtroom, one of the principal issues discussed was when a trial might happen. As Trump’s lawyers scoffed at the allegations made against him (“a great injustice”) and complained at the unfairness of his treatment (“the President has free-speech rights”), Merchan tried to smooth things out and keep things going in ways that sometimes risked inanity. On the streets of lower Manhattan, Trump’s supporters acted like the arraignment was a proper kickoff to his reëlection effort. “The defendant,” Conroy said, participated in an “illegal conspiracy to undermine the integrity of the 2016 election.” Trump paid Daniels money, Conroy said, to “avoid negative attention” to his campaign, and then “falsified” documentation of the transaction to cover it up. “This office,” Conroy said, has long focussed on the integrity of “business records here in Manhattan.” The indictment brought by Bragg’s office involves a series of [payments](https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/the-national-enquirer-a-donald-trump-rumor-and-another-secret-payment-to-buy-silence-dino-sajudin-david-pecker)—not just to Daniels—from 2015 to 2017, which prosecutors described as an orchestrated “ [catch and kill](https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/donald-trump-a-playboy-model-and-a-system-for-concealing-infidelity-national-enquirer-karen-mcdougal)” scheme. [insurrectionists](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/01/25/among-the-insurrectionists), a business empire, [endless news cycles](https://www.newyorker.com/news/annals-of-communications/the-return-of-the-non-stop-trump-news-cycle), and the Republican Party, but, in the courtroom, the judge was in charge. “Please refrain from making statements that are likely to incite violence or civil unrest,” he instructed Trump, after prosecutors complained about the former President’s “irresponsible” recent social-media posts, including one in which he warned that “potential death and destruction” would occur if he were indicted, and another in which he posted an image of himself holding a baseball bat beside Bragg’s head. In Manhattan, they are usually held in a dedicated courtroom on the first floor of the courthouse, where drug cases, assaults, and even murders are processed in as little as ten minutes, even when defendants are being consigned to pretrial detention. [Stormy Daniels case](https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/an-american-tragedy-act-iii)—the one about Trump paying [hush money](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/04/03/when-donald-paid-stormy-a-history-of-hush-money) to an adult-film star. “Yes,” “thank you,” “I do,” “yes,” “yes,” and “not guilty.” He didn’t say “hugely not guilty” or make a crack about the judge’s race. [reporters](https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-local-correspondents/the-wait-for-the-trump-indictment-is-finally-over), and looky-loos—could be heard through the windows, even though the courtroom was up on the fifteenth floor of the building. Christopher Conroy, one of the prosecutors, rose to explain what the District Attorney’s case was about.

Former president hits out at prosecution as Republicans criticise indictment as short on substance.

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Former President Donald Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to cover damaging information.

Revisit [how the news unfolded.](https://www.npr.org/live-updates/trump-indictment-arraignment-arrest-new-york) That's right in the heart of primary season, which could complicate the former president's reelection bid. The prosecution is pushing for opening arguments to begin sometime in January 2024, but Trump's defense asked for a few more months, maybe sometime in spring 2024. (On the advice of AMI's general counsel, that reimbursement never took place.) The first is New York state election law, "which makes it a crime to conspire to promote a candidacy by unlawful means," Bragg said. The court ruled that Special Counsel Jack Smith can question top Trump aides on his actions in Jan. "I never thought anything like this would happen in America," Trump said to kick off his speech. "In truth, there was no retainer agreement," reads a statement of fact that accompanied the charges. That's a Class E felony — the lowest level of felony in the state of New York. Trump, Cohen and AMI's CEO David Pecker "had a series of discussions about who should pay off [MacDougal] to secure her silence," prosecutors say. All three took place after Trump announced his candidacy for president in June of 2015. Former President Donald Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts.

Manhattan district attorney faces scepticism as he moves forward with 'hush-money' prosecution.

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Trump pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records before flying to Florida to address his supporters.

Prosecutors said Trump made a series of social media posts, including one threatening “death and destruction” if he was charged. And it’s not going to slow him down. And it’s not going to stop him. At one point, the judge put his hand to his ear as if to prompt an answer. Prosecutors in Manhattan accused Trump, the first sitting or former US president to face criminal charges, of trying to conceal a violation of election laws during his successful 2016 campaign. “We today uphold our solemn responsibility to ensure that everyone stands equal before the law.

The former president appeared subdued in New York, only to return to his campaigning, inflammatory ways hours later in Florida.

“I watch all of his speeches – saw him ramble in Waco, watched him ramble in his ‘announcement’ to run again – this is the very worst of it. He described the special counsel, Jack Smith, as a “lunatic” and complained: “Our justice system has become lawless. “This is the worst I’ve ever seen Trump,” he tweeted. “They’re looking at me through the Espionage Act of 1917, where the penalty is death,” he said. Trump got the circus he wanted. But many commentators are sceptical about whether Trump could prevail in a general election. The judge, Juan Merchan, advised Trump: “Please refrain from making statements that are likely to incite violence or civil unrest.” Payments were made to the adult film actor Stormy Daniels and the former Playboy model Karen McDougal. “I never thought anything like this could happen in America,” Trump said. The audience included Trump’s son Eric and his wife, Lara, Sitting in a Manhattan court, Trump “There’s no case.

Yesterday, Donald Trump became the first president, current or former, to be charged with a crime. Prosecutors accused him of coordinating a scheme during ...

[The Daily](https://www.nytimes.com/thedaily)” is about Trump’s arraignment. [Karen Friedman Agnifilo and Norman Eisen](https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/04/opinion/donald-trump-alvin-bragg-indictment-charges.html), Times Opinion: “There’s nothing novel or weak about this case. [the chaos of Trump’s legal challenges](https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/04/us/politics/biden-trump-arraignment.html)will remind some voters why they chose President Biden in 2020. [peanut and caramel matzo brittle](https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1023011-salted-peanut-and-caramel-matzo-brittle) is addictive. The case is expected to last awhile. Eventually, he helped arrange a deal in which Trump’s lawyer at the time, Michael Cohen, paid Daniels $130,000 to stay quiet about the affair. During the final weeks of the 2016 campaign, she tried to sell her story of a decade-old affair with Trump, which he denies. “It is still extraordinary to hear the district attorney telling this story in the context of a criminal arraignment,” my colleague Jonah Bromwich wrote. All of the criminal charges are related to a $130,000 hush payment to a porn star, Stormy Daniels, who says she had an affair with Trump. “This fake case was brought only to interfere with the upcoming 2024 election, and it should be dropped immediately,” he said. “That payment was to hide damaging information from the voting public,” Bragg said. Court filings detailed several instances in which Trump allegedly bought the silence of others during the campaign to bury damaging stories.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is effectively accusing the former President of defrauding voters in 2016.

In Fulton County, Georgia, the district attorney, Fani Willis, is investigating the efforts of Trump and his associates to overturn the results of the 2020 election in that state. The defense has some decent arguments, the prosecution has some decent arguments, and someone is going to win.” Whatever happens in those investigations, though, Tuesday’s criminal indictment marks a low—for him and for the office of the Presidency. “Here they don’t let on in the indictment what the second crime is, but the Statement of Facts does kind of tell us what it is,” Agnifilo explained. (Trump denies this latter allegation.) For each of the thirty-four counts, the indictment accused Trump of acting “with intent to defraud and intent to commit another crime and aid and conceal the commission thereof.” Under New York law, intent to break another law is necessary to charge falsifying business records as a felony rather than a misdemeanor. “The participants also took steps that mischaracterized, for tax purposes, the true nature of the payments made in furtherance of the scheme.” “You say, ‘Look, this guy was running for President, and, lo and behold, all this stuff starts happening for the first time, so you know what his intent was.’ If they can put that together really tightly, that would be compelling.” Trump is likely to counter, Agnifilo added, that he was the victim of extortion. “At its core, this case today is one with allegations—like so many of our white-collar cases—allegations that someone lied again and again to protect their interests and evade the laws to which we are all held accountable,” the District Attorney said. Trump,” Bragg’s office accused the former President of “Falsifying Business Records in the First Degree in violation of Penal Law §175.10”—a New York statute—thirty-four times between February and December of 2017. The indictment indicates that Bragg’s office has documentary evidence to back up its charges—invoices, business ledgers, signed checks—and it has been working on its over-all legal strategy since resurrecting a case that his predecessor and federal prosecutors both decided not to take to the courthouse. Assuming the case comes to trial, Agnifilo said, the prosecution will likely take the jury through the chronology of the payments and the Presidential campaign. In a sixteen-page indictment, “The People of the State of New York Against Donald J.

The first former US president to face criminal charges: Donald Trump now holds this dubious and historic record after a court in New York indicted him on 34 ...

"This is when the system, which is declared as absolutely free, ends up devouring or denying itself," she said. "Miracles still do happen," he wrote about the former president's arrest. - reflecting Mr Trump's track record of false or misleading claims - while in another German publication, Der Spiegel, columnist Roland Nelles wrote a piece titled " [Trump Turns Dock into Election Box After Criminal Indictment](https://oglobo.globo.com/mundo/noticia/2023/04/trump-transforma-banco-dos-reus-em-palanque-eleitoral-apos-indiciamento-criminal.ghtml)". Mr Trump has declared he is running in the 2024 presidential election. [the front pages of most UK newspapers](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-the-papers-65183858) on Wednesday, under pun-heavy headlines such as "Donald (in the) Dock" and "Trump in the eye of the Stormy".

Photos of former US President Donald Trump as he appeared in court covered the front pages of most international papers.

The front pages of most UK newspapers were covered with photos of Trump as he appeared in court. Some world leaders also commented on social media. [This is karma and it won’t help Trump win 2024](/opinions/2023/4/5/this-is-karma-and-it-wont-help-trump-win-2024?traffic_source=KeepReading) [Five key takeaways from Donald Trump’s Manhattan arraignment](/news/2023/4/5/five-key-takeaways-from-trumps-manhattan-arraignment?traffic_source=KeepReading) [Donald Trump pleads not guilty. Some used catchy headlines, such as “Trump in the eye of the Stormy” in the Mirror and “Trump in the dock” in The Times. Wednesday's Mirror: Trump In The Eye Of The Stormy German newspapers went in hard on Trump with the Tagesspiegel using the headline “Nothing but the truth?” in a piece about Trump’s track record of misleading claims.

Donald Trump ripped from a well-worn page in his playbook Tuesday night — lashing out with a speech that was at times full of lies and conspiracies.

And, according to his campaign, Trump has raised more than $7 million in the days since the indictment. But therein lies the problem for Trump — the more his grievance politics have become about him, the more views of him from independents (and certainly Democrats) have hardened. And right now Trump is the clear front-runner for the GOP nomination once again. Mitt Romney of Utah, are criticizing the New York case. "Please refrain from making comments or engaging in conduct that has the potential to incite violence, create civil unrest, or jeopardize the safety or well-being of any individuals." He equated the New York charges to nothing more than "election interference." The next court date in this case isn't until December. He called two other prosecutors, who are or have investigated him and who are Black, "racist." In court Tuesday, instead of a rejoinder from Trump, it was his recently hired lawyer, Todd Blanche, who did the talking. A grim-faced Trump quietly walked into the New York courthouse. "The only crime I've committed is to fearlessly defend our nation from those who seek to destroy it." It was an odd day to say the least.

He was forced to return to the island that rejected him—not in triumph, but in disgrace.

For now, at least, he seems intent on waging his battle with the Manhattan haters from a distance. There was no impromptu press conference on the courthouse steps or chest-thumping speech to his supporters outside. A handful of Trump’s New York–based supporters tried to convince me that this was still his town. Yes, his personal grievances with the “elites”—the ego-wounding snubs—might have been petty, but the anger was real. They recognized the type—the outer-borough kid who’d made good—and they made sure he knew he wasn’t one of them. But the relatively muted MAGA presence, compared with the crowds of onlookers relishing the moment, only underscored how alienated the former president has become from the city with which he was once synonymous. Hundreds of journalists descended on Lower Manhattan to chronicle each indignity: the courthouse door gently shutting on him because nobody bothered to hold it open, the judge sternly instructing him to rein in his social-media rhetoric about the case. The island of Manhattan plays an important role in the Donald Trump creation myth. Of course, becoming the first ex-president in American history to be charged with a crime is not exactly a coveted résumé line. For a kid born in Queens—even one who grew up in a rich family—Manhattan seemed like the center of the universe. He looked strangely small sitting there flanked by lawyers—his shoulders slumped, his hands in his lap, his 6-foot-3-inch frame seeming to retreat into itself. He shuffled quietly into the courtroom and took his seat at the defense table.

What it was like inside the courthouse as the former president pleaded not guilty to 34 felonies.

[Amazon Music](https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/65957f22-45da-431f-8090-83fae75e505a/the-daily?ref=dm_sh_usreOEMqWWWJPnjisTHv1U4QB) [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/show/3IM0lmZxpFAY7CwMuv9H4g?si=SfuMSC55R1qprFsRZU3_zw) Our theme music is by Jim Brunberg and Ben Landsverk of Wonderly. Baylen, Asthaa Chaturvedi, Rachelle Bonja, Diana Nguyen, Marion Lozano, Corey Schreppel, Anita Badejo, Rob Szypko, Elisheba Ittoop, Chelsea Daniel, Mooj Zadie, Patricia Willens, Rowan Niemisto, Jody Becker, Rikki Novetsky, John Ketchum, Nina Feldman, Will Reid, Carlos Prieto, Sofia Milan, Ben Calhoun, Susan Lee, Lexie Diao, Mary Wilson, Alex Stern, Dan Farrell, Sophia Lanman, Shannon Lin, Diane Wong and Devon Taylor Davis Lin, Dan Powell, Dave Shaw, Sydney Harper, Robert Jimison, Mike Benoist, Liz O. We aim to make transcripts available the next workday after an episode’s publication. on Monday, more than a day before the former president was scheduled to face a judge in a case centered on hush-money payments. [Here’s how.](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/16/podcasts/the-daily/how-do-i-listen-to-the-daily.html) [Stitcher](http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/the-new-york-times/the-daily-10) [Apple Podcasts](https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-daily/id1200361736?mt=2) [The Daily](https://www.nytimes.com/column/the-daily)Subscribe: [Asthaa Chaturvedi](https://www.nytimes.com/by/asthaa-chaturvedi), [Rob Szypko](https://www.nytimes.com/by/rob-szypko), [Nina Feldman](https://www.nytimes.com/by/nina-feldman) and [Rachel Quester](https://www.nytimes.com/by/rachel-quester), [Lisa Chow](https://www.nytimes.com/by/lisa-chow) and [Marion Lozano](https://www.nytimes.com/by/marion-lozano), [Dan Powell](https://www.nytimes.com/by/dan-powell) and

The former president faces 34 felony counts in connection with a hush-money payment to a porn star before the 2016 election.

The charges against Mr. The National Enquirer also made a payment to Karen McDougal, Playboy’s playmate of the year in 1998, who wanted to sell her story of an affair with Mr. Daniels was not an isolated incident but rather part of a broader strategy to influence the election. The charges trace back to a $130,000 hush-money payment that Mr. And based on evidence presented to the grand jury, it details the two hush-money deals involving the National Enquirer, which has longstanding ties to Mr. To elevate it to a felony, the district attorney, Alvin L. But prosecutors have not yet said definitively what crime or crimes they intend to rely on to escalate the charges to a felony level. The payment, which Mr. Bragg mentioned a number of potential underlying crimes, most prominently a violation of a state election law that bars any conspiracy to promote “the election of a person to public office by unlawful means.” Cohen submitted to the company, and 12 involve entries in the general ledger for Mr. But prosecutors in the Manhattan district attorney’s office accused Mr. Trump, falsified New York business records in order to conceal an illegal conspiracy to undermine the integrity of the 2016 presidential election,” one of the prosecutors, Chris Conroy, said at Mr.

The case that Manhattan prosecutors have brought against former President Donald Trump for allegedly falsifying business records to disguise hush money ...

The debate centers on a legal concept known as preemption, which comes into play when the federal law appears to supersede a state law, and whether state prosecutors can go after conduct that is tied to a federal election, i.e. Finally, the charging papers seem to hint that there was an intent to violate New York tax law, suggesting that rationale could be used as the backing for the felony. “That is state tax crimes,” Ryan Goodman, a New York University Law professor, told CNN’s Erin Burnett Tuesday night. They describe an “unlawful” scheme to influence the 2016 election by keeping damaging information about Trump from reaching the public. “Apparently [prosecutors] have looked at this seriously enough to conclude they were within their bounds.” “I’m not saying there isn’t a hint of what the other crime is,” said Robert Kelner, a defense attorney who specializes in political and election law. Ryan, an elections law expert who is deputy executive director of the Funders’ Committee for Civic Participation. In the coming weeks or months, Trump could be facing criminal charges in Georgia, stemming from a special grand jury investigation into his attempts to undermine the 2020 election. The Manhattan hush money prosecution is not the only source of legal jeopardy for the former president and leading 2024 Republican White House candidate. Prosecutors are not obligated to show their hand at this stage of the proceedings and there are minimal requirements for what an indictment must say. But other experts stress that Bragg has a case that plausibly could end in a guilty verdict and that his legal theories are on solid, albeit untested, ground. But Bragg has brought the charges – which by themselves, are misdemeanors – as felonies.

Trump has become first US president indicted and charged with a crime, but many questions remain in complex case.

Here is where the so-called “statement of facts”, a legal document filed by prosecutors that lays out supporting details of the prosecutor’s case – as well as statements from It charged Trump with 34 counts of “falsifying business records in the first degree”, a class E felony, the lowest grade in the highest category of charge in the New York penal system. The charges are focused on how reimbursements to Cohen paid by then-President Trump were classified – or misclassified – in official business documents. “I’ve been doing this for 24 years and I’m no stranger to rigorous complex investigations,” Bragg said at a news conference on Tuesday. [Republicans and Democrats react to Trump’s New York arraignment](/news/2023/4/4/republicans-and-democrats-react-to-trumps-new-york-arraignment?traffic_source=KeepReading) [Donald Trump pleads not guilty. “You never want to give short shrift to 34 felony counts, particularly if you’re sitting at the defence table, but [Trump] has strong defences he can assert to these charges.”

A man unfurling a flag with "Trump or Death" written on it · Mitt Romney and Donald Trump in the White House cabinet room looking serious · A court sketch of ...

Mr Trump claims to have raised millions of dollars in the past week and is hoping to use the case to benefit his campaign. Mr Trump used the speech to reiterate a long-standing list of grievances, and to criticise the New York charges as election interference. "He gave us some information. In the absence of a mug shot, the photos of Mr Trump inside the courtroom just moments before the arraignment began are likely to become the defining images of an extraordinary day. In an email to supporters the following morning, he argued "these attacks" showed "how much hangs in the balance in the 2024 election". Mr Trump's lawyers claim the case is without merit, criticising it as a "weaponisation of the legal system". If they are successful, or if prosecutors lose the case at trial, Mr Trump would be handed a huge political victory in the run up to the 2024 election. We're the public, we're not the judge, we're not the jury. But during a press conference after the hearing, Mr Bragg alluded to violations of both state and federal election legislation, as well as tax laws. But Dion sees an upside for Mr Trump as he makes his bid for the Republican nomination, in the hope of ultimately returning to the White House. But Mr Bragg also referenced two other payments, to a former Playboy model and a doorman, as part of what he described as a broader "catch and kill" strategy to find and bury negative information, to boost his electoral prospects. Describing the case against Mr Trump as a "sham", Dion argued the charges being prosecuted by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg were politically motivated.

Donald Trump lawyer Todd Blanche outside the Manhattan district attorney's office. Todd Blanche, Donald Trump's lawyer, has advocated for a trial date ...